Can I tell you what I am most excited about in my garden this year? Thai basil. A sweet basil cultivar used not only in Thai cooking, but also in Vietnamese, Laotian, and Taiwanese cuisine, this variety has dark purple stems and a distinctive anise flavor. Here’s the very first dish I cooked using fresh Thai basil from my garden. A simple vegetable stir fry with zucchini, carrot, and mushrooms, finished off with a fistful of Thai basil leaves and a simple Thai sauce. Garlic, shallots, and bird’s eye chiles (which are quite spicy, by the way, so cut back if you don’t have a very high spice tolerance) help to round out the flavors in this addictive stir fry. This could easily be adapted to whatever vegetables you like, but don’t even think about leaving out or substituting the Thai basil. It can usually be found in large bunches at Asian markets (which is also your best bet for fish sauce and bird’s eye chiles). Once you try this stir fry, don’t be surprised if you find yourself seeking out Thai basil whenever possible and wishing for your very own plant.

*These mushrooms usually come in bunches attached at the bottom – you want to cut the bottom off so that they fall apart into individual mushrooms.
**Preferably kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), but any good quality soy sauce should be okay.
***Brown sugar is an acceptable substitute.

Add 2 large zucchinis, julienned, 3 large carrots, julienned, and 3/4 – 1 lb beech mushrooms, bottoms removed, and let cook over high heat, tossing occasionally until softened, about 10 – 15 minutes. If not using a very large pan, you may want to cook each ingredient separately to speed up cooking, setting aside in a bowl when done, and then adding everything back to the pan at the end.

[…] a simple panko-crusted and fried preparation for the fish itself and modeled the sauce off of my Thai basil stir fry. The end result was like hitting jackpot – now I can get my fill of this dish at home! And […]